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The Wednesday Read: Shutdown, Front Runner, & Briefings

Sometimes I wonder what happened to the people who asked me for directions…

Today’s topics include:

The Shutdown

Front Runner?

White House Briefings

The Shutdown:

It’s getting very serious for the 800,000 federal workers who are going to miss a second paycheck. This is day 33 of the partial federal government shutdown. (Reuters)

The U.S. Senate has scheduled a couple of votes, but the situation looks bad. The House and Senate need to pass legislation to prevent foreclosures, evictions, and repossessions for these government employees during this time.

It’s time for the three stooges (Trump, Pelosi, and Schumer) to find a compromise and end this shutdown.

Front-Runner?

It looks like the Democrats have a real contender to take on Donald Trump in 2020! That person is none other than U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

I like Harris. She is a go-getter and a force to be reckoned with.

How is Harris a front-runner? The nuts on the right have already started rumors about her not being qualified to be President because neither of her parents was a legal resident for 5 years prior to Harris’s birth, a requirement for naturalization, they say.

The big problem with that argument is that Harris was born in Oakland, California. Even Politifact has called the accusation a “Pants on Fire” lie and they say that she is eligible to run for President.

Those on the right have also been going after newly-elected Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for many reasons – mostly because she is outspoken and young. The righties can rest easy; Ocasio-Cortez is really not eligible to be President. She is not old enough; she is 29 and you must be 35 to be President.

White House Briefings:

The President has said that he told White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders not to bother with White House briefings. He announced that in a tweet:

The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the “podium” much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!

Administration after administration has had issues with the press. The main thing was past administrations were mature enough to handle it and find some way to get their message out.

Official press briefings are a staple of our democracy. If Huckabee Sanders can’t handle the press, then get someone who can.

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You’re letting the 4th Stooge off the hook-McConnell. He could run the bills passed by the House thru the Senate. Like Trump he is a craven coward afraid of his caucus passing those bills and quite possibly over-riding Trump’s veto. The thought of losing his power so publicly has him stopped in his tracks.